Why I Had To Quit Watching HGTV

In the last year I have been adapting myself to this notion of working at home. It’s a BIG adjustment going from an office full of people to an 800 square foot condo alone. And while it has it perks (I get to cook all my meals at home and wear my pajamas to the office) it does get VERY quiet.

So a few months ago I started keeping HGTV on in the background, just for the noise factor. I got hooked on shows like Property Brothers, Income Property and House Hunters. They showed these amazing homes with granite countertops, soaker tubs in the bathroom, heated floors and giant stainless steel appliances. It was sort of like “Extreme Home Make Over” without having to cry at the stories.

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And at the beginning it was fun imagining what it would be like to live there. To walk into an enormous bedroom and sink into clean white 8-million thread sheets (have you seen the Biltmore Estate Sheets[2]) on a king sized bed that belonged to me. To have heated floors and towel racks[3] in the bathroom. To have a giant walk in closet with shelves that rotated my shoes so I didn’t have to go digging around on the floor trying to find my favorite cowboy boots.

After a few weeks I started noticing things around my house. A small stain in the carpet, my popcorn ceilings and my “scratch and dent” fridge had never bothered me before. I was happy to have a roof over my head, hot water in my shower and an HVAC system that worked until I spent too much time looking at vaulted ceilings, rain shower heads and thermostats that could be set from a cell phone.

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Like staring at too many magazine covers of airbrushed models I started to obsess over every little thing. My condo felt small and inadequate. Suddenly discontentment was becoming an issue in an area I had never cared about. So I had to turn off HGTV for both myself and my wallet. I would have put myself in debt for something pretty that didn’t make my life one bit better. Everything in my house works perfectly, why should I think I NEED more?

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One day when my mortgage is paid off I can take all these dreams I have for my home and put them into play. When my wants can be paid for with cash they will be all that much more fun. But for now I will have to keep watching “Once Upon A Time[6]” and “Leverage[7]” because neither of them make me want a new washer and dryer!